


Bee-utiful

by MythGirl02



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: another popular fic, i actually like this one, so i have my own bee miraculous user, this was before season 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-10-12
Packaged: 2020-08-20 00:27:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 22,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20218771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MythGirl02/pseuds/MythGirl02
Summary: When Holly moved to Paris with her family, she didn't expect to like it that much. Then again, she also didn't expect for there to be real superheroes...





	1. A Brand New Day

Master Fu stood from a distance, intently watching the battle between the latest akuma and Ladybug and Chat Noir. He came to monitor as many fights as he could, and occasionally checked in on Ladybug and Chat Noir's civilian lives. It gave him great joy to know that he had placed the two most powerful miraculouses in such capable hands. For some time now, though, he recognized that the fights between the two heroes and the akuma victims were getting longer, perhaps due to the fact that the heroes couldn't be in two places at once. Then again, nobody could.

"What do you think, Master?" Wayzz asked from his position above Fu's shoulder. He, too, was surveying the back-and-forth between their chosen heroes and Hawkmoth's villains.

Fu thought a moment, stroking his small beard, before answering. "I think it is time, Wayzz. We need to give Cierr her chosen. The only question now is- who will that be?"

X-X-X

Nobody would expect something big to happen on a day with so much rain. At least, not normally.

However, this particular morning, two nearly identical girls, already drenched from the downpour, expected something amazing to happen- almost as amazing as the croissants they had bought from the bakery by their new school for breakfast. Or, at least, one of them did.

"Come _on_, Holly!" one of the girls called. Her long syrup-brown hair, pulled into a braid, was flinging droplets of water each time she hopped from puddle to puddle on the sidewalk, getting mud splatters all over her jeans and t-shirt and annoying some of the people around them. "I don't want to be late on our first day!"

The other girl, Holly, trailed a few feet behind, carefully avoiding the puddles her twin sister was jumping in. Her only answer was a silent nod and pushing her limp, wet hair out of her face so it didn't smudge her glasses, though it still stained the shoulders of her shirt with moisture. They still had fifteen minutes before classes started, but Holly decided not to mention it.

"Paige, you're going to get your clothes all muddy," Holly muttered in slight annoyance as she narrowly avoided her sister's splashing.

"So what? I can't be the only one in our school who likes puddles," Paige responded, hopping into another. The mud-filled water sprayed up and hit the backs of her legs, some of the droplets landing on Holly's knee-length socks. At least none hit her skirt; she would have _ended_ Paige.

With a loud, irritated sigh, Holly quickened her pace to get ahead of Paige.

"Holly, come on! Just because we're not in the same classes doesn't mean-" she stopped in her tracks once she noticed her sister pointedly ignoring her. Blowing out a puff of air, Paige jogged ahead to catch up, the two matching each other's strides. "Look, Holls, you'll be fine. The lady at the bakery said her daughter is in your class, yeah? I'm sure she'll show you the ropes and everything."

"Not the point," Holly grumbled as they approached the looming doors of the school. It didn't matter if she would know anyone going in; soon everyone would keep away from her like they always did, even if she didn't tell them all about her. She figured she just had one of those personalities that others didn't usually hang around. Keeping her head down, she and Paige walked through the throngs of students to the stairs.

"My homeroom is down here," Paige said with a small smile. "Don't worry, Holls. You're going to be fine."

She didn't react when Paige gave her a tight hug, and only left once Paige began talking to her homeroom teacher. She made her way slowly up the stairs to Madame Bustier's classroom. Thankfully, as much as she could see, she was one of the first people in the room, the only other being a boy who was drawing at his seat.

Quickly and quietly, she introduced herself to her teacher and took her seat in front of the drawing boy. She felt his eyes on her for just a second before they returned to his paper. As for her, she pulled out a book and began reading. Paige had told her before that she tended to. . .what were her words? . . . "Live vicariously through that fiction trash you read." Of course, Holly didn't think it was trash; there were some perfectly legit romantic moments in a lot of the teen fiction she read. And besides, sometimes the more cliché something was, the better! Her only and closest friend from her old school, Amelia, would surely agree.

Whatever the matter, Holly soon got lost in the fictional world of _Fangirl_, her favorite Rainbow Rowell book. She was so immersed in Cath's world that she almost didn't notice when a big, burly guy took his seat next to her, or when just about every seat in the room was filled and there was animated chatter going about the class.

Soon, though, it was quieted by Madame Bustier calling the class to order. Quickly, Holly bookmarked her spot and looked up front. Madame Bustier had taken up a relaxed position, leaning against the front of her desk with her ankles crossed. "Good morning, class. As you may have noticed, we have a new student joining us. Holly, could you raise your hand, please?" Holly complied, shrinking a little when she felt the stares of fourteen students land on her- and she could tell that not all of them were friendly. "Now, since today's assignment is reading and discussing volume two of _Les Misérables_, Adrien, would you mind showing Holly around?"

"Not at all, Madame Bustier," a blonde boy in the front of the class answered. He set his books on his desk, prompting Holly to do the same with a grin, before Holly followed him out of the classroom.

"So where are you transferring from?" Adrien asked once the classroom door was shut. He was obviously intent on making small talk while they went around the school, while she was intent to do the exact opposite.

"Lille," she answered with a small sigh. "We only moved because my parents' jobs were transferred."

Adrien gave her a sympathetic glance as he began leading Holly down the stairs. "Did you leave a lot of friends there? That must've been awful."

Please. Leaving was far from that when it came to the general school public. "Actually, my only friends were- are my sister Paige- she's in a different class- and Amelia. Amelia was the closest thing I had to another sister, in all honesty, and I nearly threw a fit about leaving because of her. As hard as leaving was for me, though,Paige has it ten times worse. She actually had more than one non-related friend."

Her answer must've stunned him silent, because they walked a little ways without talking. And when they did talk, well. . . "Anyway, the library is down that way," he explained, pointing down a hallway. "The gym is separate from this building, but you should have no trouble getting there. It's just a block over, but if you need any help finding it, feel free to ask me. Next is the science room. . ."

The rest of the tour was silent other than Adrien's occasional comment on the different classrooms and other miscellaneous information. "That's about it. Like I said before, if you have any questions, feel free to ask me, or really anyone in class." He tried for a smile, but the awkwardness between the two extinguished it. "We should probably head back to class now."

"Yeah," Holly agreed with a small nod. Les Mis was one of her favorite books, and she was sure that the work in this class wouldn't be too hard for her. From where they were, Madame Bustier's classroom wasn't far, just up the stairs. "Um, thank you, though. For the tour."

"It's no problem." This time Adrien's grin stayed steady, his green eyes shining as they started up the stairs. "Oh, and in case you wanted to know, the name of the boy you're sitting next to is Ivan. He seems tough, but he's actually a really nice." That comment brought them to the classroom door. Holly put her hand on the door handle, about to push it open, when she felt Adrien's hand land gently on her shoulder. "Hey, I know what it's like to only have one or two friends. Trust me, though, the people in this class are some of the best friends you can have. Just give them a chance." His eyes searched hers, somewhat pleadingly, but with a sympathetic undertone.

She blinked, breaking their connection. "Y-yeah, maybe." Adrien nodded with a smile and lifted his hand off of her shoulder, allowing her to open the door and go back to her seat.

"Perfect timing, you two," Madame Bustier commented as they sat down. "We were just about to discuss the significance of Cosette to this volume of the story. Holly, if you don't feel prepared to answer any questions I may have, then I recommend you read the second volume. I have a copy down here if you would like it."

"Actually, Madame, I've read _Les Mis_ multiple times. I feel I am fully prepared for this discussion," Holly timidly spoke up as she settled back into her seat. "I have a copy of my own at home, too."

Madame Bustier's eyebrows lifted a bit in surprise. "Alright, then. Now, who can tell me about the Thénardiers?"


	2. (Mostly) Unwilling Socialization

"You're lucky," Paige grumbled over her peanut butter sandwich during lunch. The two girls sat side-by-side at a picnic table in the park by school. They'd rather stick close-by than go all the way home just to eat and go back. "I've already got a crap-ton of homework. You've already read all of the _Les Mis_ volumes along with just about all of the teen fiction books in the library, so you're more or less off the hook."

Holly nodded, not really paying attention to her sister as she turned the page in her book. "It's not like you have a lot of trouble with homework."

"That doesn't mean I _like_ it." She took an angry bite of her sandwich before laughing. "Although, you're right. It's really not that much, actually."

Holly's lips lifted in a knowing smile. "I figured. You were always one for theatrics."

Paige grinned. "Hey, there's that Holly Patented Smile I rarely see anymore! I knew I could bring it out somehow." She narrowly dodged as Holly tried to swat her arm. "Really, though, what's got you down so often that you never smile anymore?"

Her shoulders lifted and slumped down again. "I don't know. I really miss Amelia, for one. Maybe it's just living in this life instead of the perfectly imperfect worlds of fiction books. I can name twenty reasons why living inside any one of these books will be better than this life." With that, she continued reading, shutting down the conversation.

Opening her mouth to respond, Paige halted and closed her mouth, watching someone behind Holly. Not interested, Holly continued reading, not looking up until she heard her name.

"Hey, Holly, having a nice lunch?" She looked up, noticing for the first time Adrien standing next to her and Paige. She had no idea what he was doing there, as she had seen him go home for lunch. Maybe he was on his way back? Huh. She must've lost track of time.

"Yeah, thanks." Pushing a lock of hair out of her face, she noticed Paige's slight glare at her, knowing exactly what she was prompting. "By the way, this is my sister Paige."

Adrien smiled at her. "It's nice to meet you, Paige. Holly's told me about you." He was about to say more when a boy called him from across the park. Adrien looked over and waved with a smile. "That's my friend Nino. I should go, but I hope you both enjoy your lunch."

Paige's eyes were trained on him as he walked away. When she turned back, her eyes were gleaming. "Holly, how do you know Adrien? Tell me _everything._"

Holly blinked and adjusted her glasses. "I don't really know what you're talking about. He's in my class, and our teacher asked him to show me around earlier today, that's all. I didn't think he would actually come talk to me."

Closing her chocolate brown eyes for a moment, Paige took a deep breath. "Holls, I know you don't pay a lot of attention to anything that's not fiction, but that was Adrien Agreste. The _model._ And he is _in your class_."

"So?"

"Do I need to spell it out for you? You are in class with someone who is paid for being good-looking, and he chooses to check in on you." She stopped, looking into Holly's eyes and waiting for her to put two and two together.

"I don't follow." And at this point, her attention was wavering, too, slipping back down to the book in her lap and her sandwich. "I don't see what this has to do with anything."

Paige rolled her eyes, snapping her fingers to keep Holly's attention. "I think you should try to be friends with him. He's obviously nice, and is nice to you. If the universe is trying to get you to make friends, this is the way to do it!"

Holly shook her head, taking a bite of her now-soggy sandwich. "I'm not becoming his friend just because he's famous. I would never take advantage of anyone like that."

"And I'm not telling you to. Even if he wasn't famous, I'd still tell you the same thing." Paige had completely given up on her sandwich, pushing it aside and starting in on her granola balls. "Come on, you don't seriously want to follow me around like a koala on my leg everywhere I go for the rest of our lives, do you?"

"No, but I'm interested in where you heard of that analogy." Out of all of the analogies Holly had read in books, never once had that one been brought up, and she knew that Paige wouldn't have come up with it on her own. As much as she loved her sister, creativity wasn't her forte.

A shy smile crept onto her face. "I saw a GIF on it a while back. It kind of reminded me of you and Amelia, actually. It was so cute, the koala-" She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. "Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, you need to branch out and make a few new friends. Socialize. It's not that hard."

"For you, maybe," Holly muttered, closing her book and stuffing the remains of her lunch into her bag. "I'm going to the library. See you after school."

She got up, stalking out of the park and into the school, finding herself eventually in the school's large library. Finally she could be alone with her book and no nagging sister! Still, she should maybe work on checking her temper every once and a while.

There weren't any beanbags in the room like her old school's library had, but the chairs around the tables were comfortable enough. Luckily for her, there wasn't anyone else in the library other than the librarian, who was behind his own desk reading. She really only noticed him because of his bright red, floral shirt. There was no noise other than the sound of turning pages. Pure bliss.

"Hey, you're Holly, right?"

Of course there had to be someone there to ruin her mood. Again. She turned her face towards the quiet voice, discovering the boy who sat behind her in class, the one who was too busy drawing to pay much attention to class starting. "Yeah, I am," she answered, setting her bookmark in her book. "You're in my class, right?"

The boy nodded, his shaggy scarlet hair covering his left eye. His arms were full of sketchbooks and pencils, which he deposited on the table next to Holly, sitting down beside her. "My name's Nathaniel. It's nice to meet you." There was nothing said for a few moments, but he started again. "Um, is this going to become a spot for you to spend your lunch?"

Holly thought about it for a moment. She would definitely prefer to stay in here, where there were only a couple people, than out with Paige, where anyone could overhear their conversations and such. "Unless my sister forces me to socialize, then probably. Why? Is that a problem?" Maybe the touch of sassiness in her voice wasn't needed, but at this point, she was in no mood right now.

Nathaniel's cheeks blushed a pale pink. "No, that's not what I meant. This is usually where I spend my lunch, too. It's nice and quiet in here, and this way I don't have to worry about Chloé."

The name captured her attention. Pushing a lock of her hair out of her face and behind her ear, she asked, "Who's Chloé? Is she in our class?"

"Yeah. I'm surprised you haven't run into her at all today, to be perfectly honest. She usually makes it a point to torture anyone who isn't her, even if they're new. Especially if they're new." He started reorganizing his belongings. "She's Mayor Bourgeois's daughter, so she thinks she can get away with just about anything, including mocking someone for a drawing they dropped and showing it to the entire class."

Holly lifted an eyebrow, her mind whirring. "That sounds. . . personal. Did she do that to you?" If this girl was that big of a brat, she would need to know when to steer clear.

"She did, and it ended pretty badly. I was akumatized after that incident. . ."

She held up a hand to stop him. "Whoa. What does 'akumatized' mean?"

His teal eyes bore into her, a front of questioning within them. "Do you not have akumas where you're from in France? Or superheroes?"

"Okay," she laughed out. She liked fiction, but not _this_ much. "There's no such thing as superheroes in real life."

"But there are," Nathaniel argued, flipping open his sketchbook. "See, I drew some pictures of them!"

Surveying his work, Holly could tell that he put a lot of thought and time into his art. The girl in the ladybug-like costume and the boy with cat ears looked real enough to the point where she expected them to come to life. She could almost even see the emotions they were experiencing in the moment. Handing back the book, she said, "Sorry, but drawings, however amazing they may be, prove nothing. You're going to need more concrete evidence to convince me."

He cracked a grin. "What, are you a judge examining trial evidence?" he joked, closing the sketchbook. "I have more than just this, though." He fished his phone out of his pocket, bringing up a website. "This girl in our class, Alya, runs a blog about the superheroes Ladybug and Chat Noir. It's called the Ladyblog, and she posts pictures and videos of all the sightings and akuma battles with them. It's really amazing."

With the phone's screen tilted towards her, she skimmed over the many articles and posts on the student-run blog. Post after post of pictures, videos, and links to other people's own blogs about these two superheroes littered the page. Curious, she tapped on one of the videos, watching the girl- Ladybug, she figured- along with the other, Chat Noir, swing around Paris, with Ladybug using what looked like a yoyo and Chat Noir using an extendable staff thing.

"Wow," she whispered, handing the phone back. "They're legit."

"Very," Nathaniel said. "Believe me now?"

The bell rang, signalling the end of lunch. "Yeah, I believe you," Holly admitted after picking up her bag and book. Nathaniel left with a smile, disappearing into the sea of people in the hallway. Holly lingered back a moment, taking a small glance at the librarian, who was still reading his book. She recognized the cover as Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment, the first book in one of her favorite series. "Good choice," she commented as she passed his desk. "That's a great series."

The librarian smiled sagely at her. "It's one of my favorites as well, child. Now, I believe you may want to get to class before it starts, yes?"

"Oh! Yeah, you're right." It was unlike her to be late to any class, but then again, it was totally like her to get distracted by a good book. "I'll be back here tomorrow for lunch as well." With that, she scurried out of the room, bracing herself for the workload that was chemistry.

X-X-X

Paige stayed back at school to find out about extracurriculars, so Holly was alone on her walk home. She didn't know the route like the back of her hand yet, having to use visual landmarks in order to find her way home even though it wasn't far. One earbud was stuck in her ear, listening to an audiobook from her phone. She would be listening to music normally, but that was only when Paige is sharing the earbuds with her and forces her to do something other than read. She had to take this chance when she could; she didn't know when she would next get it.

"It's like a sea of people," she muttered under her breath, glancing around the busy area. Cars and people were littering the roads and sidewalks, respectively, and Holly was very keen on not becoming a human pancake. She would much rather get home, complete her homework, and take a nice, long soak in the tub to clear her mind. Maybe a bath bomb to complete the work. . .

A bright flash of red and white caught her eye. Her head whipped around to see the librarian from her school stumble, dropping his book into the busy crosswalk. He went to grab it, standing right in the middle of an oncoming car's path.

Without thinking, Holly ran forward, grabbing the man's arm as well as his book, and pulling him out of the road. She had no idea where the speed or the daringness had come from, as she had never been athletic or daring a single day of her life. Really, she was just glad the librarian was safe.

"Are you okay?" she huffed out, doubled over to catch her breath. She made a note to herself to start working out a little more often. . .or at all. At least her skirt hadn't flared up while she was running blindly into a busy street. Jeez, if Paige or Amelia had been there, Holly would be a dead girl from their lecturing.

"Thanks to you, yes," the librarian said with a smile towards her. "You saved my life without a second thought."

She waved her hand, straightening herself. "Hey, us book lovers have to watch out for each other, right?" She managed a small smile, still breathing more heavily than normal. "As long as you're alright, then I guess everything is fine."

"Thank you again, child," the man acknowledged before walking off in the direction he had originally been headed. Holly watched him go, just to make sure he really was alright. Once she was sure that he was gone, she continued on her own way as best she could without knowing the entire route.

Those events having occurred, she was more than happy to find herself in front of her apartment complex. Yeah, she would definitely add that bath bomb.

Climbing the stairs instead of using the elevator would be the first part of her new fitness regime. Three flights was a small-ish amount, but that was alright for her.

Opening the door to her apartment using her new key, she found that she was the first one home, beating her mom and dad as she expected. She turned on the television just for background noise, hearing the news detail what appeared to be an akuma attack. Nathaniel really hadn't been lying, then.

With a sigh, she trudged to her bedroom, this being the first time she didn't have to share with Paige. She was grateful for the privacy, as well as the space for her personal library. She dumped her messenger bag on her bed, glad that the school day was over. Sure, she had conversed a bit with Nathaniel, but she didn't really want to make it a regular occurrence. It wasn't that she didn't like him; she didn't know him well enough to not like him. It was just that she was sick of being pushed away by people for being "weird, strange, and obsessive" about her writing, so she did the pushing instead, distancing herself from everyone else. Well, everyone except Amelia, who was one of the few people in her old school who loved how nerdy she could be at times.

Starting the bathwater in the bathroom, she returned to her room to get her book so she would have something to do while she was soaking. She also wanted to grab one of the bath bombs in the stash she kept far away from Paige, who she knew would sneak in and grab one if she knew where they were. The bath bomb was grabbed first, the lilac scent already filling her nose as she breathed in the air around it. She shoved her hand in her bag, searching around for it while also trying to take her glasses off so they didn't get fogged up in the bathroom. Instead of her book, her fingers closed around a small object that she was pretty sure wasn't her Eos lip balm. Out of curiosity, she pulled it out, revealing a black box with red detail on it.

"What the. . ?" She turned it on all of its sides, sure that she had never seen it before. Setting the bath bomb on her bed, she slid her glasses back on so she could examine every detail of the box. The top had the most detail to it, and there was a small hinge on one of the sides, signifying that the box opened.

Placing the box on the palm of her left hand, she carefully pried the lid open. The first thing she could see was a yellow hair comb with a little bee in the center. She could only see it for a moment, however, because the next thing she saw was a large amber ball of glowing energy in front of her, nearly blinding her. She fell back onto her bed with a yelp, watching the energy die down and take the form of an abnormally large bee. It was large and fuzzy, yellow with black stripes on its head and stinger. It blinked its large blue eyes, surveying the room as Holly had done to her school earlier that day.

Holly tried to say something, anything, but no words came out. Lucky for her, the bee thing did all the talking.

"Hi," the bee greeted in a small, shy feminine voice. "I'm Cierr, and I think you're my new holder."

Again, no words came out of Holly's mouth, but the bee continued based on her expression. "Holly- that's your name, right? You know Ladybug and Chat Noir?" Holly nodded, her mouth still agape. The bee- Cierr- flew closer to her. "You're going to be a superhero, just like them."


	3. A Little Meet-and-Greet

The first thing Holly did was go into the bathroom and turn the water off. Her bath could wait for a little while. First she needed to process this. . .new information.

"Okay," she breathed out, sitting cross-legged on her bed. Cierr the bee was floating in place in front of her. "Explain absolutely _everything_, please, but maybe talk a little slower this time?"

Cierr smiled, inching a little closer. Since coming out of the box thing, her shy voice was replaced by one with more confidence as she spent more time around Holly. "Ya know, you're taking this really calmly. None of my other holders ever really took it this well. I know Tikki's holders generally-"

"Sorry to interrupt, but can we get back on track please?" Holly interrupted, holding up a hand.

"Sure, sorry." If Cierr could blush, Holly was certain the bee's face would be dusted with pink by now. "I tend to ramble sometimes. Maybe. . . How about if you have any questions, ask them. That should limit my rambling, at least a little."

Holly nodded, thinking. "First of all, what exactly are you? You're not like any bee I've ever seen, and I know for a fact that bees don't usually talk."

Cierr's antennae twitched a bit. "I'm a kwami!" She giggled at Holly's confused expression. "We're magical creatures tied to the miraculouses, and we're able to grant people special powers! My miraculous hasn't been used in a while, though."

Flipping the yellow hair comb in her hand, Holly asked, "This is a miraculous, then? Are they all hair combs?"

"Yes, that's my miraculous. I think it's very pretty. And no, the miraculouses for each kwami are different. Tikki has her earrings, Plagg has his ring, I have my hair comb. You need to be wearing the miraculous in order to transform, but I think it'll be better if we wait until after I finish explaining everything. That way, we won't have you ending up like Chat Noir the first time he transformed this era. That was a bit of a mess."

A small rumbling sound came from the kwami. "Sorry, I'm a bit hungry. I haven't eaten anything since the last time my miraculous was used. Do you have anything I can snack on?"

Holly pushed herself off her bed, leading the kwami into the kitchen. "It's alright, I'm hungry too. I never finished my lunch today. Is there anything you want in particular?" She started rummaging through the cabinets, still unused to the new layout. At least she had been diligent enough to clear all the boxes from the floor in her room, unlike Paige.

Cierr phased in and out of the cabinets, much to Holly's surprise. "I normally don't have a preference, but something sweet or salty would be nice." She landed in one of the cabinets Holly had been looking in. "Ooo, how about this?"

Holly reached into the cabinet, reading the label on the bag Cierr had been examining. "Trail mix? Sure, I guess. I think this one has some chocolate in it, too." She shrugged, searching for a small bowl and pouring some trail mix into it for her and Cierr to share.

The kwami immediately dug into the salty and sweet mix, trying a piece of everything. "Mm, this is good! The food in this world has gotten so yummy since the last time I was around!" Her attention was soon brought to the television Holly had left on. The akuma had been taken care of by now, but footage was still rolling that was captured by the news team and various bystanders. "So Wayzz wasn't kidding when he said that Hawkmoth was behind all of this," she said sadly.

"I'm sorry. Wayzz? Hawkmoth?" Holly felt her brain was reaching it's maximum of strange names and information for the day.

"Wayzz is the turtle kwami, and he's with the guardian. Hawkmoth, I believe, has my friend Nooroo under his control and is abusing Nooroo's powers." Her antennae drooped. "He's never been under a control like that before. I wonder how he even ended up with a person as bad as that. All Hawkmoth wants is all of the miraculouses, in order to gain absolute power over everything! He must be really tough if the guardian activated Tikki and Plagg's miraculouses. Since they represent creation and destruction, they're the most powerful, although they sometimes need help from the rest of us." Her big blue eyes met Holly's. "Holly, you've been chosen by the guardian to help Ladybug and Chat Noir bring down Hawkmoth. In your superhero form, you'll be able to help them defeat his evil akumas and restore the balance of the miraculouses. Please say you'll help!"

Holly blinked. "I'm still not really sure why I would be of much assistance. I'm not special or anything. I'm not even that social."

"That doesn't matter!" Cierr insisted, getting uncomfortably close to Holly's face. "The guardian chose you because of your kind heart! That's all that matters, Holly."

Glancing at the television again, Holly noticed the news anchor commenting that the akuma attacks appeared to be getting longer. It looked like Ladybug and Chat Noir could use some help. . . "I don't know how good I'll be at this, but I suppose I could try."

Soon she was knocked back slightly by Cierr tacklehugging her. "Thank you thank you thank you!" she cried out, her short arms spread against Holly's collarbone. "Do we have time now for me to explain everything else before your parents get home?"

A glance at the clock told her that it was around 3:15. "We've got a long time until my parents get home, but my sister should be home in about twenty minutes, so we should make this quick."

Cierr nodded. "Got it. First, the most important thing: you can't tell anyone- and I mean anyone- about your secret identity. Not only would it endanger you, but your friends and family as well."

"That makes sense. I'm assuming since he put the two of us together that the guardian knows who I am?"

"That's correct. Next, in order to transform, you have to be wearing your miraculous and you have to say 'Buzz on.' Those words will make me go into the miraculous, and you'll be in your superhero form. I won't be able to communicate with you during this time, and I only have limited vision on what you're doing, so please, make good choices.

"Now, your superhero name is Honey Bee. I designed your outfit myself, and I think it's very bee-utiful. Ha, see what I did there?" The kwami paused to laugh at her own pun, while Holly just rolled her eyes. "Anyway, it's magical, so no matter what the temperature is outside, you'll be comfortable. It also doesn't rip, so there's that. There's a mask to it, too, and I think it should work so that you won't need to wear your glasses with it. Onto your special power next-"

"I get a special power?" By this point, Holly was completely open to this idea and her mind was spinning from how this was so much better than the fictional worlds she usually lived in.

Cierr smiled at her reaction. "Mmhmm. It's called Swarm. Before using Swarm, you can be in your superhero form for as long as you want, I suppose. You'll have an indestructible expandable disc that can be used for transportation- in other words, if you want to get somewhere, you can expand it, stand on it, and ride it kind of like that board on wheels."

Holly made a face. "A skateboard?" Paige had one, but she herself had had some bad experiences with riding them.

"Yeah, those. You can use it for a weapon as well, just like a frisbee, I guess. It'll return right back to you once it hits or misses its target. So really, it works like Chat Noir's staff and Ladybug's yoyo. Oh, and you can use it as a communication device, and it also can locate where the other two are."

"That's a lot of functions," she commented, eyes wide. "So what does Swarm do?"

Popping another piece of the nearly gone trail mix into her mouth and swallowing, Cierr answered, "It's kind of like backup. After you use it, three backup worker bees- not literal bees," she added, noticing Holly's skeptical gaze. "They'll show up and help fight or distract the akuma for five minutes. Speaking of, immediately after you use Swarm, you have five minutes until you detransform. After that, I'll be tired, so I'll need some food so I can recharge. Hopefully more yummy trail mix."

"Alright, I think I've got everything. Is there anything else I should worry about?"

"Well, if an akuma somehow gets your miraculous- highly unlikely, by the way- then you'll detransform. Most of the work with the akuma will be done by Ladybug, because she's the only one who can purify the akumas. If you want to help out with that, you can attempt to find where the akuma is hidden. Most often, it's in a personal item. I think that's everything, though."

Holly nodded with a small smile. "Alright, then. We should try transforming sometime, but I think Paige should be home any minute now. Do you want to find a nice space in my room for your bed?"

Cierr grinned at her new chosen. "Sure, but I think first we need to get you used to wearing the miraculous." She flew into Holly's room to retrieve the hair comb and carried it back into the kitchen, waiting as Holly wiped her salty fingers on a napkin. She set the comb in Holly's hand before floating up to her hair. "I think it would be pretty if. . ." The kwami pushed a part of her hair behind her ear, holding it and signalling for Holly to secure it with the comb. "No, not like that. Here, hold the hair and let me do this."

She took the comb out of Holly's hair, barely waiting for the girl to hold her hair back. Pushing her comb into the hair, she combed it back a little before switching directions and letting the comb go. The hair was secured perfectly, Holly's loose waves falling nicely behind the comb. "Perfect!" she declared, floating back. "Go look in a mirror or something, this is a masterpiece!"

Shooting the kwami a playful glare, Holly went to look in the mirror in their hallway. "Oh, wow," she breathed out, lifting a light hand to touch it. Cierr buzzed over, slapping her hand away. "Hey!"

"Don't touch it! You might ruin it."

"Your faith in me is astounding," Holly deadpanned, turning away from the mirror. "C'mon, we should find you a space in my room before Paige gets back."

X-X-X

Marinette groaned and fell onto her bed. This akuma attack had been absolute torture, and in addition to that, she had heaps of homework to do. She didn't really want to admit it, but the akumas seemed to be getting stronger, getting closer and closer to hers and Chat Noir's miraculouses.

"Any chance that Hawkmoth's gonna take a break for a while?" It was wishful thinking, she knew, but at this point she absolutely would not mind it.

Tikki just giggled, munching on her chocolate chip cookie. "I don't think so, Marinette. If anything, he's getting more persistent. You and Chat Noir are doing fine, though."

She hummed in response. "I don't know, the akumas seem to be getting harder and harder to hold off. Soon enough, I'm not going to have enough time to do my homework."

"If you want time for your homework, do it now," Tikki advised. "Get it done before you have dinner, so then you can have some free time afterwards before patrol."

"Yeah, you're right." Marinette pushed herself off of her bed, going down to her desk to grab her homework. "Besides, at least this time I don't have anything else to do tonight." It was a small comfort at this point, but she'd take it. Alya was sure to be swamped with homework, too, as well as updating the Ladyblog, so there was at least one person who wouldn't call or text her in the middle of her homework.

Tikki sat down on Marinette's desk. "Besides, I don't think you'll have to worry as much soon."

Marinette lifted an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"

"You'll see soon enough!"


	4. Some Extra Help

Cierr and Holly had decided to wait until the end of the week to transform. Paige had informed her that she would be out that night with a couple of friends, and her parents would likely be wiped out from work, so she wouldn't have to worry about them. That way, she could sneak out and see if she could find Ladybug and Chat Noir on their patrol.

Other than that, Paige and Holly mostly tiptoed around each other, careful not to overstep in their conversations like at lunch on their first day. Holly continued to have her lunch in the library, but Nathaniel didn't really talk to her as much as he did that first day. Holly also noticed that the librarian she had met wasn't there, and when she asked Nathaniel about it, he mentioned that the man was only a substitute.

Sooner than she could imagine, Friday night came. Just as she had suspected, her parents were half asleep on the couch, struggling to stay awake to watch the news. Paige had already left, so all she needed to do was lie.

"I'm going to be in my room for the night," she told her parents. She was dressed in her pajamas already to sell the lie. "I'm just going to be writing, so please, no distractions." Those were her code words for "don't bother me at all," but they worked pretty well.

"Alright, sweetie," her mom yawned. "Have fun." Her dad's response was only a snore, at which both mother and daughter smiled. "We're probably going to go to bed soon anyway."

That was easier than expected. Holly closed her door soundly, giving a fleeting grin to Cierr. She had compromised with Cierr the other day that if she wasn't going to socialize much as herself, she may as well get to know Ladybug and Chat Noir so she could assimilate well into their team. That meant socializing with them, but if it was for defeating Hawkmoth, she was all for it.

"Are you ready, Holly?" Cierr was grinning from ear to ear- er, antenna to antenna. "This is so exciting! I haven't helped someone transform in ages."

"I'm ready if you are, and I've got a stash of trail mix for when we get back. Hopefully it won't be too late." Holly stood in front of her mirror, wanting to see her new outfit immediately. "Cierr, buzz on!"

Holly watched as Cierr was sucked into the miraculous. The hair comb itself gained more stripes, and Holly felt her hands moving of their own accordance, moving across her face with a bright yellow light. Her arms stretched out next, the light racing down from her shoulders to her fingertips. Next, she watched as the light traced down her hips and legs, noticing that she had spun to get a better glimpse of it. A disc like the one Cierr had described appeared on her side.

"Whoa," she breathed out, examining her outfit. She leaned in close to her mirror, looking at the yellow-gold mask on her face. It really only covered her eyes, but she could see perfectly without her glasses, like Cierr had predicted. There was even a honeycomb pattern on it.

The rest of her outfit was just as nice. It stretched from her neck all the way to her feet, including her arms down to her fingers. It was mostly yellow, but with two black stripes circling her stomach and a black stripe circling her upper arms. The bottom of her suit, by her feet, was black as well, and she was surprised to see that she wasn't wearing shoes but her feet still felt protected.

"This is amazing," she smiled, reaching a hand to her hair. While her hair normally didn't have anything in it, now it had the comb as well as yellow ribbons threaded in it, accenting her syrup-brown hair and making it look more honey-colored. She took the disc off of her side, placing it in her hands and spreading it out to make it bigger. "Perfect." Laying it on the ground, she stepped on it tentatively, waiting for it to slide out from under her, but it stayed in place, unlike Paige's skateboard.

She had left her bedroom window open, and lucky for her it was large enough for her to get out of. She just had to hope nobody would see her.

Really, feeling the wind in her hair, flying on the disc felt a bit like riding a bike, just without the work. She got the hang of it pretty quickly, and was zipping above Paris's houses and streets.

Of course, she wasn't expecting a yoyo string to tie her up, making her lose her balance. The disc flew out from under her, landing a few feet away on a rooftop. She soon crashed down with it onto her side, her arms tied tight against her body. The good thing was that the most she would probably have from this. . .incident, was a few bruises tomorrow that she could easily play off as from gym class. Her family knew by now that she was a magnet for flying objects.

Four feet landed on the roof next to her, two in black and silver boots and the other two in a red and black material like her own suit. "Um. . . hi?" Honey Bee said hesitantly, trying for a smile. She couldn't really see from this position, but she had to assume that the two next to her were Ladybug and Chat Noir. "Is there a particular reason you tied me up?"

"Who are you?" The person she assumed to by Ladybug yanked her yoyo string, bringing Holly into a seated position. Her hair was now a bit knotted, partially in her face. Using a puff of air, she blew it out before responding.

"My name's Honey Bee," she introduced, remembering the name Cierr had told her a couple days ago. "I'm here to help you, assuming you guys are Ladybug and Chat Noir."

"Look at that, milady, she knows about us!" Chat Noir, who she could see clearly now, grinned. His golden blonde hair reminded her of someone, but she couldn't really place it. His staff was secured in his hand, and his arms were crossed, though he was in a more relaxed position than Ladybug.

Speaking of Ladybug, she did not look happy. Her sparkling blue eyes were giving her a death stare, and her blue-black hair, tied into pigtails, was whipping around in the slight breeze. "Are you an akuma? Where's your miraculous?"

Honey Bee blinked, looking at Ladybug and then Chat Noir. "Um, no, I'm not an akuma. My miraculous is in my hair comb. What's with all the questions?"

Chat Noir rolled his eyes playfully. "C'mon, Ladybug, do we really need to interrogate her? There was already one akuma this week; I don't think there'll be another."

"One, that has happened before. Remember the Vanisher and Antibug? Those two happened on the same day," Ladybug argued, turning her glare to her partner. "And two, yes we need to interrogate her, especially after the Volpina incident!"

He shrugged, looking apologetically at Holly. "Maybe we should give her a chance to talk, at least? Then we can make a decision."

Ladybug thought about this for a moment before sighing, resigned. "Fine. Let's hear your story."

"A couple days ago, I found a black box with red detail in my bag. I opened it and saw the comb that I have in my hair, and then there was a flash of yellow light. After that, my kwami Cierr showed up and told me that the guardian thinks I can help you two take down Hawkmoth and his akumas." She nodded in the direction of her disc. "That's my disc. I can use it to ride on, as a weapon, and to call or locate the two of you. Tonight's the first night I've transformed. And that's the absolute truth."

As she finished, she noticed Ladybug and Chat Noir having a silent conversation with their eyes, but it soon turned audible. "She knows a lot more about this than Volpina did," Ladybug reluctantly admitted.

"Yeah, but who's this guardian she was talking about?" Chat Noir asked, seeming genuinely confused, as well as a little hurt that he'd never heard of him.

"I'll fill you in later." She shot another glance at Honey Bee. "Do you think we should trust her?"

"Well, it sure would bee nice if you did." If this was any regular day, she would have slapped herself for making a pun, but since she was Honey Bee now, she supposed she could make an exception. In all honesty, she thought it was quite funny, just the kind of thing she and Amelia used to laugh about for hours on end, even coming up with puns of their own.

Chat Noir grinned at her before turning his attention to Ladybug again. "I say we trust her."

She stared at him, her eyes holding more than a little exasperation in them. "You would trust anyone who uses puns, though." Thinking a little, she sighed. "My kwami did mention something a couple days ago about something like this. Maybe she was talking about Honey Bee."

At this point, she would try anything. "I vote you bee-lieve me." If puns were the way to Chat, and Chat was the way to Ladybug, well. . . it was worth a shot.

". . .Fine. Looks like I'll have to get used to more puns," Ladybug groaned, ignoring Chat's victorious expression.

"Well, milady, looks like we've got ourselves a new friend!" He bent down to untie her, allowing Ladybug to retract her yoyo before helping Honey Bee up.

A small smile appeared on Ladybug's face at his excitement. "Looks like it." She held a hand out to Honey Bee. "Sorry that I was so skeptical. There was just an akuma impersonating a miraculous holder a few weeks back, and she nearly won, so. . ."

Honey Bee smiled back, taking her hand. "It's alright, I understand. Truth is, I would've acted the same way."

"Now that we have this settled," Chat interrupted, "how about we show our little Honey Bee the ropes for patrol?"

Honey Bee playfully shoved him. "I'm not that much shorter than you two, ya know." Two new friends, under a mask; this was the kind of socialization she could handle easily.

"She's got you there, chaton," Ladybug laughed, giving Honey Bee a high-five.

Chat sighed, his eyes still filled with excitement. "And now I have two beautiful women ganging up against me."

"And one of them is not interested," Honey Bee stated, her voice matching his level of excitement.

"Make that both of them," Ladybug added with a wink. Honey Bee had to keep herself from snorting at that statement; it was so obvious to her that Ladybug felt something for him, after she had binge-watched all of the videos of them on the Ladyblog the other night. "Don't mind him," she directed at Honey Bee. "He's really harmless."

Shaking her head and laughing, Honey Bee retrieved her disc. "I know the type." From books, but still, she knew the type. "It's fine. So, shall we finish this patrol?"

The two superheroes grinned at her. "First to the Eiffel Tower wins!" Chat Noir shouted, sprinting across the rooftops. Ladybug and Honey Bee exchanged a grin before taking off into the cool night after him.


	5. Anger and Debuts

"Would you stop your yawning?" Paige grumbled on the way to school. "It's driving me. . . crazy." Her statement was punctuated with a yawn of her own. "You should go to sleep earlier if all you're going to do is get up earlier than you need to."

Holly stared at her, mind scrambling to think of an excuse. She couldn't tell her sister that she was tired because of superhero patrols late at night! She'd get used to them eventually. . . probably. "My novel isn't going to write itself," she argued weakly, yawning again.

Paige snorted, adjusting her backpack on her shoulders. "Because reading fanfiction and obsessively looking at fanart at the crack of dawn counts as writing."

"You know perfectly well that I draw some inspiration from that stuff! Besides, it needs to be appreciated sometime, and I'm too busy after school."

"Doing what?" The girls stopped in front of the school's steps. "As far as I can tell, you haven't joined any clubs, or have been hanging out with friends."

She reached up to touch the hair comb still embedded in her hair. She'd gotten used to doing it now, even though it had only been a week or so since she'd been introduced to Cierr. "Well, I've been texting Amelia a lot." It wasn't a lie, as she had, but texting didn't take as long as she had been pretending to be doing stuff.

"Please. You have the attention span of a fly when you're texting someone, even Amelia."

"What I do with my free time is none of your business." She started climbing the stairs, eager to get to her class so she could avoid this conversation again.

Paige reached out and grabbed her wrist. "Holls, it becomes my concern when you do absolutely no socializing. That's not healthy."

"I socialize! Nathaniel and I talk over lunch in the library. . .sometimes. . ." Her face grew red once Paige gave her an _I knew it_ look. "Just stop it! I can do what I want with my time, whether it's socializing or not. You're not the boss of me!" In addition to Paige's hurt look and the curious stares of those who overheard them, Holly was shocked at herself. "I- I'm going to go." Running up the rest of the stairs, she ducked into the girl's bathroom, not even caring when the warning bell rang, telling her she had five minutes to compose herself. She checked to see if anyone else was in the room before opening her bag.

Cierr flew out immediately. "Maybe you _should_ get to bed a little earlier, or sleep a little later," she suggested, floating next to Holly, who was staring at herself in a mirror.

"I can't believe I just did that," she muttered. "As temperamental as I can get, I've never yelled at Paige like that."

Flitting over in front of Holly, Cierr took a seat on the sink faucet. "I don't get it. Aren't sisters supposed to fight?"

Holly let out a dry, humorless laugh. "That's what the books say." The books that Paige never listened about. "She never listens to a thing I say, really. She doesn't get me. She never even stood up for me and Amelia when they used that Avengers quote against us, though they adapted it to say that Amelia was weird and I was weirder. They referred to me as Scarlet Witch until we moved, and Paige never even thought to ask how it made me feel. She just assumed that because Amelia was okay with it- she always embraces her quirks- I would be too. And I guess I let her."

Cierr was silent for a moment. "You know what? It's too early for this. Let's get you to class, and you and your sister can make up after school."

Holly took a deep breath. "You're right, I think. That should give me some time to cool off, too." The angry red blush in her face had subsided, and she zipped her backpack shut once Cierr flew in, exiting the bathroom and heading to class.

She was mad at Paige, yes, but she was more mad at herself for blowing up out of the blue like that. She's never blown up at Paige before, so maybe it was her stored anger that made her yell. Maybe writing wasn't enough to get all of her anger out.

Or, more possible, she wasn't writing enough. She'd have to get on that.

X-X-X

Multiple loud crashes and screams interrupted her lunch that day. Her eyes flew up from her writing journal, nearly dropping her pencil as she looked to Nathaniel for an explanation.

"It's an akuma attack," he spoke quickly. "Come on, we should go somewhere safe."

A little voice in the back of her mind told her that she absolutely should go with him, but the reminder of Cierr waiting in her backpack to transform convinced her of otherwise. "I'll be right behind you," she lied, stuffing her journal into her backpack. He nodded, taking off towards the main entrance. In the meantime, she ducked into an abandoned aisle of the library, letting Cierr fly out of her backpack.

"Your first akuma!" Cierr gushed, her wide eyes filled with excitement. "They grow up so fast."

Holly rolled her eyes, but couldn't help her smile. She was nervous for this attack, but this was the beginning of her official superhero career. Wait, could she count it as a career? It wasn't something that she could put on her resume, but. . . "Cierr, buzz on!"

As soon as she was transformed, she ran out a side exit of the library, throwing her disc down and hopping on, ready to take on this akuma.

It wasn't long before she found Ladybug and Chat Noir, thank goodness. She didn't want to have to face the akuma alone. "Ladybug! Chat Noir!" she called, waving to them as she approached. They were on the roof of a building, surveying the ground around them. "Have you guys seen the akuma yet?"

Both shook their heads. "Not yet, but we should be getting close," Ladybug informed her. "You haven't seen it either?"

"No," she admitted. "All I heard were some crashes and screams. I thought they came from over here, but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary."

A muffled laugh came from near them. ". . .You guys heard that, right?" Chat asked apprehensively, trying to locate the source of the sound. The girls nodded, trying to find the sound as well.

"You're not looking hard enough," a feminine voice taunted. "See, there are perks to being invisible sometimes." The voice sounded like it was moving around them. "I was surprised you two were able to locate the general vicinity I was in. Congrats, I suppose. But now. . . Who is this little hero next to you?"

"My name is Honey Bee," Honey Bee answered, her voice strong despite the nerves of her first akuma battle. "I'm an ally to Chat and Ladybug."

"A new superhero?" another voice gasped out from below them. "What a scoop!" Honey Bee looked down to see an auburn-haired girl she recognized from her class attempting to film them. Alya was her name, she remembered.

From beside her, Ladybug groaned. "She really needs to stop trying to film these attacks," she muttered, still trying to find the voice they had heard.

"No matter who you are," the voice said, the faint violet glow of a butterfly mask. "If you are a miraculous holder, I shall take your miraculous for Hawkmoth! Then we'll see how people really like being invisible to others. But really, it's not being invisible; it's blending in to your surroundings that I excel at." A large force smashed into Honey Bee, knocking her onto her back. She scrambled to her feet again, still clutching her disc. Now she could see the owner of the voice: a slim figure, who appeared to be the same coloring as the sky she had been against. In just a couple of seconds, her "coloring" matched the background she was against.

"Who are you, anyway, a chameleon?" Chat wondered, trying to grab onto the camouflaged girl.

"Not a chameleon, dear Chat," she giggled, moving and melding to the background. "My name is Concealer."

Honey Bee bit back a laugh. "Like the cosmetic?"

"_Not_ the cosmetic," Concealer growled. "A girl who blends in so well that nearly nobody notices her. Allow me to show you." Her image rippled for a second, soon replaced by that of a girl with flowing cinnamon-colored hair and cyan eyes, tan skin and a paint-splattered suit. Her mask, slightly butterfly-shaped, was a forest green, accenting her hair. Altogether, the outfit clashed horribly, making her too bright to _not_ stand out. "Strange to think that someone who tries hard to fit in would do it too well, instead of being dragged into the limelight."

Ladybug studied the girl in front of them. "I feel like I know you from somewhere. . ."

Concealer snorted, crossing her arms. "I don't think so. Nobody knows me."

"Um, I do!" Honey Bee's attention was once again brought to Alya, still on the ground. She wasn't exactly sure how much good footage Alya was getting from her vantage point. "Her name's Calypso, she's one of the members of the chorus."

The three superheroes looked back to the akuma. "Calypso was the old me, the me that was too good at blending in. Now I am here to make sure everyone gets their chance to stand out!"

"Isn't it kind of ironic?" Honey Bee asked, thoughts spinning through her mind. "You know the meaning of the name Calypso is literally 'the concealer,' right?"

Chat burst out laughing. "Really? Hawkmoth, if you're listening, you need to come up with some more imaginative names."

Concealer leaped at Chat, once again blending into the background. He swung his staff haphazardly, not connecting with anything. "A little help here, girls?" he grunted, shifting his stance again as Concealer pushed him from behind.

Ladybug and Honey Bee sprung into action, Ladybug trying to latch onto Concealer with her yoyo, and Honey Bee trying to catch her off guard with her disc. "We don't even know where her akuma could be," Honey Bee pointed out, tripping and stumbling over Concealer's leg, listening to her cackle.

"Oh, Honey, you won't figure that out anytime soon!" A piece of her hair was lifted near her miraculous, but Honey Bee blindly pushed out in front of her, hitting Concealer and stumbling backwards herself.

"We need to figure out a way to see her!" Ladybug shouted, her yoyo missing once more. "Then we might be able to find the akuma."

"Good luck with that," Concealer remarked, her footsteps racing across the roof. "Can't catch me!"

Honey Bee rolled her eyes. "What are we, five?" she muttered, earning a small laugh from Chat Noir.

"C'mon, Concealer, this isn't a fair fight!" Chat called out, green eyes searching for any kind of movement.

She became visible for a moment right behind him. "Because a three-on-one fight is fair?" Once again, she vanished, blending into the background and shoving Chat Noir forward. "Now, don't make me wait much longer to take your miraculous! I do have other things to get on with, you know."

"We can help with that: just let us destroy the akuma," Honey Bee said, still searching for the girl.

"This is becoming just like the Vanisher," Ladybug murmured, yoyo swinging. Her eye caught something by the roof entrance. "Chat, Honey Bee, can you guys keep looking for a minute? I have an idea."

Chat grinned at her. "Of course, milady." Honey Bee nodded, too, and Ladybug ran over to the entrance, fiddling around with whatever she had seen over there.

A quiver of movement caught Honey Bee's eye. She flung her disc in the direction of the movement, making contact judging by the grunt coming from the wall. "There, Chat!" she exclaimed, and Chat nodded, running into Concealer and pinning her against the wall.

"Perfect timing," Ladybug commented, coming over to them and dumping a pot full of soil over Concealer's head.

"What the hell?" Concealer shrieked, writhing in Chat's grip. A thin headband that they hadn't noticed before caught some of the dirt in her hair. Nothing else noticeable showed on her, which meant. . .

"The akuma is in her headband!" the three heroes realized as one. Unfortunately for them, Concealer wasn't making this easy, having shaken off the dirt. Kicking Chat Noir in the shin, she escaped from his grasp, breaking past the three and running across the roof.

She laughed, the few specks of dirt left on her blending into the background now. "It's not gonna be so easy for you three," she taunted.

The three heroes were really frustrated at this point. "Alright, then," Ladybug grumbled. "Lucky charm!" A moment later, a red and black spotted book fell into her grasp. "Well, this sucks. Any ideas?"

"As much as I love reading, now isn't the time for a story," Honey Bee commented, trying to think of anything it might be useful for in this situation.

"I agree," Chat said, "though you can't judge a book by its cover. It could have a hidden use."

Ladybug and Honey Bee both shot him a look at his joke. "Now? Really?" Honey Bee deadpanned.

"He makes jokes at the worst times. You get used to it," Ladybug said with a roll of her eyes.

"Me-ouch. Your words hurt, LB," Chat teased, placing a hand over his heart as though he was actually wounded by her words.

"And _you're_ going to hurt if you don't give me your miraculous!" Honey Bee had kind of forgotten that Concealer was still there, which she supposed was half of the reason Concealer could blend into her surroundings- and thinking that, she really was just like a chameleon, wasn't she?

A shrill beeping sound caught her attention. "I've only got four minutes left, so we need to make this quick," Ladybug said, eyes searching around them. She glanced down at the book in her hand. "Got it! Chat, Honey Bee, can you see if you can find her?"

They nodded, letting her do her own thing. . . whatever it was. Honey Bee couldn't exactly figure out what Ladybug was going to do with the book, but she was sure that it would work. She had absolute faith in her newfound friend, something she was quite surprised at.

However, they still weren't making any progress with Concealer. Before long, though, Ladybug had the roof they were on covered in paper from the book.

"How is this going to help?" Chat asked, curious. Honey Bee had to bite back a joke about curiosity killing the cat.

"Like that." Ladybug pointed to the movement of the papers. "We can see where you are now, Concealer!"

The three worked quickly, Ladybug tying her yoyo around the girl, and Honey Bee finding and breaking the headband. She watched as a small black butterfly- the akuma, she assumed- wriggled out of the broken pieces and tried flying away. Before it could, Ladybug caught it in her yoyo (somehow; she wasn't exactly clear on how it worked) and released it. With a shout, she threw the remains of the book into the air.

Honey Bee watched in awe as red light- or ladybugs- coalesced and flew around them, correcting any damage that had been done. It was an incredible sight, really, and was only interrupted by the girl, Calypso, shaking her head.

"How did I get up here?" she wondered aloud as Ladybug handed her the fixed headband.

"Pound it!" Ladybug and Chat Noir said in unison, beckoning for Honey Bee to join in on their fist bump. It felt good, she had to admit.

"Ladybug! Chat Noir! Honey Bee!" Alya again, waving up at them. "Can I get an interview?"

The three looked at each other. A shrill beep filled the air again. "You guys go ahead," Ladybug smiled apologetically. "I only have a minute before I change back." Without waiting for their response, she went off.

Honey Bee caught Chat Noir looking fondly at her retreating back. "So you like her, huh?" she asked with a sly smile.

"I'm not even going to deny it," he sighed out. "Sorry if I'm crushing your dreams."

She laughed, setting down her disc. Like that could even happen for her. Her heart belonged to someone else. "Sorry, but I don't like you in that way, Chat. Come on, let's go give that interview."


	6. Party Time

Holly was glad that she and Paige had made up after school that day. She felt ultra bad for her outburst, but that didn't justify Paige's actions a few weeks after.

"You owe me one," she argued, pushing Holly's phone back under her nose. "It'll be fun! C'mon, please?"

"No."

Paige sighed, annoyed. "Come on. It's just a party, and we've both been invited even though I'm not in your class. And it's Alya, too. You like her, right?"

"She's cool, yeah, but I don't want to go to a party," Holly said firmly, maintaining her position. "I owe you something that's not going to a party."

"You said that Nathaniel will be there too, right? So that's another person you like that will be there. We should both go. Besides, how awkward would it be for me to go and be the only one not in their class?"

Holly took a deep breath, making a spur-of-the-moment decision. "You know what? Fine. I'll go, but I won't like it." She grabbed her phone and shot a quick text to Alya. "And now, I don't owe you anything, and I don't have to go to any more parties after this. Deal?"

"Deal," Paige grinned. "This is gonna be so much fun!"

Holly rolled her eyes, going back to the fanfiction she was reading on her laptop. Finally, she could get lost in the world of fanfiction, where the only parties were the ones where the main characters either got together or broke up. She refused to think about this party again.

So it stood to reason that she pretended to completely forget about the party.

"I'm not letting you get away with this," Paige said, literally dragging her out the door, grabbing both of their coats with her free hand. Their parents, like usual, were still at work, even though it was already almost seven o'clock. "We are going to Alya's party and we are going to have fun, whether you like it or not."

"I'm betting on not," Holly muttered, pulling her hand out of Paige's grip and slipping on her coat. It was nearing the end of November, but it wasn't as chilly as she expected. At least Alya lived close by, so it only took them a couple of minutes of walking to arrive.

Alya's face brightened when she opened the door to let them into her apartment. "You made it!" She stepped to the side, letting them in. "So this isn't really as much of as party as it is a giant hang-out session, but it'll still be lots of fun! You can just leave your coats anywhere for now."

Paige thanked her for the both of them and struck up a friendly conversation about the school blog, which Paige had expressed an interest in joining. Holly, meanwhile, scanned the room, only seeing Marinette and Nino so far. She was kind of surprised that Marinette was one of the first there, as she had a tendency to be late to class. She expected Nino to be there, however, because Nathaniel had told her that he and Alya had been dating for a few months.

"Hey dude," he greeted her with a two-fingered wave and a grin. "Ready to have a fun night?"

She didn't really have any other choice, so she nodded. "Yeah, sure."

Marinette smiled warmly at her. "It'll be nice for you and your sister to get to hang out with the class. Or at least, most of it."

"What do you mean?" Holly tilted her head, somewhat confused. "I thought the whole class was invited."

"Well, even if the whole class was invited, not everybody would come," Marinette started, looking like she was trying to choose her words carefully.

Nino continued on for her. "Alya didn't want to invite Chloe the queen bitch, and there's no way Sabrina would come without her anyway."

"Nino, watch your language," Marinette chided with a light punch on his shoulder.

He laughed at her weak hit. "C'mon, Mari, like you've never thought that Chloe's a bitch. I'm pretty sure even Rose and Mylène have thought that at least once, and I've never heard either of them swear."

She paused to consider this, finally coming up with a response. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean you have to say it."

After that, the first part of the night passed with Holly mostly blending into the background, occasionally talking with Nathaniel about random things- mostly centering around the recent akuma attack of Concealer and the new superhero. Feigning innocence was actually a lot easier than she had expected it to be.

It was only once everyone had been there a short while that Alya got their attention. "How about we kick this night off with a nice game of Truth or Dare?" she suggested with a smirk. "Although, this way will be a little different."

Holly hated Truth or Dare to begin with, so a new addition could only make it worse. "What do you mean?" Leave it to Paige to be interested in something like this. Holly sent a small glare her way for dragging her here.

"I'm glad you asked." Alya produced an empty soda bottle from behind her back. "Truth or Dare is being combined with a game I found online called 'Slap or Kiss.' That will be explained when we get to it, but know for now: If you don't like the truth or dare you get, you can choose to play Slap or Kiss instead. Are you ready?"

"Yes" came the majority of the answers. "No" came Holly's muttered answer, which only Nathaniel could hear, as he was next to her. He laughed under his breath, shooting her an amused glance.

"Alright, then. Let's begin." Everyone sat in a circle, arranged mainly boy-girl with a few exceptions. "Nino, truth or dare?"

He didn't even think for a moment before answering. "Dare, definitely."

Alya grinned, eyes full of mirth. "I thought you would say that. I dare you to go to the kitchen and eat a big spoonful of the leftovers in the red plastic container."

"That shouldn't be too hard," he shrugged, getting up and heading into the kitchen. After rummaging in the fridge for a minute, he produced the red container Alya had talked about. He opened the lid, nearly dropping the container once he'd done so. "Dude, what is this?"

"Leftovers. I already told you that." Holly could tell that Alya was hiding a laugh.

Nino shook his head vigorously, holding his nose. "Leftovers of what, raw meat and dead rat?"

Alya shrugged nonchalantly. "Mom was going through one of her experimental phases last night. That's all I'm going to say on that."

A few giggles ran through the circle. Nathaniel leaned over to Holly and explained in a whisper, "Alya's mom is the head chef for Mayor Bourgeois' hotel." She nodded, still watching Nino reacting to whatever was in the container.

Three minutes passed with Nino trying to get the leftovers close to his mouth. He got really close to finally getting the spoon into his mouth before he shoved the container onto the counter. "I can't do this," he announced. "I choose slap or kiss."

Alya burst out laughing. "Hear that, everyone? So early into the night, and I broke the unbreakable!" Nino returned to the circle with red cheeks, Adrien reaching over Juleka to pat his shoulder.

"Whatever, man. How does this work?" he asked in a mutter, his tone betraying how embarrassed he was.

"Slap or kiss is like spin the bottle, except that everyone else gets to vote on whether the person gets slapped or kissed. The person that spins the bottle has to go into the bathroom and wait for us to vote, and the person the bottle landed on doesn't get to vote. Also, my own rule is that instead of only doing male-female kisses, you have to kiss whoever the bottle lands on, boy or girl. That makes it more. . . interesting. Also, it doesn't have to be a kiss on the lips; it can be a cheek or forehead kiss, too." She glanced around the circle, not noticing Holly's slightly uneasy expression. "Everyone got that?" Nods all around. "Great. Go ahead and spin, Nino."

With a deep breath, Nino took the bottle from her and set it in the center, spinning it around. Once it stopped, the neck of the bottle landed on Paige, who looked absolutely ecstatic. "Nino, go to the bathroom until we call you out," Alya ordered, giving him a light shove on his way. Once they heard the door close, Alya grinned at them. "Everyone but Paige, raise your hand if you think Nino should be slapped."

Alya, Holly, Nathaniel, Ivan, Kim, Alix, and Max all raised their hands. "That's the majority of us," Max informed them once he counted hands. "To be precise-"

"Alright, Nino, come back in!" Alya called, cutting Max off but also nodding her head in acknowledgement. Nino walked in, a slightly nervous tint in his eyes. "Please go to the center of the circle with Paige, where she will give you your slap or kiss."

Holly, knowing her sister, knew she would have way too much fun with this. And she was right: Paige leaned into Nino like she was going to kiss him, but at the last second, she delivered a hard slap to the arm.

"Ow! Man, you have a hard slap," he complained, rubbing the spot she had hit. Everyone, barring Adrien and Holly, burst out laughing. Adrien smiled sympathetically as Nino rejoined the circle. "Okay. . . Adrien, truth or dare?"

"Truth," the model answered immediately. Nino nodded, thinking for a minute.

"Would you rather kiss Chloé or Hawkmoth?" A few people laughed at this.

Adrien took his time thinking it through, clearly not able to decide. "Well, nobody knows who Hawkmoth even is, so I would choose Chloé, even though she would probably never leave me alone after it."

Alix snorted. "Or she'll die of happiness. Or both." Kim barked out a laugh, and the two high-fived each other.

Alya shook her head, smiling. "Your turn, Adrien."

X-X-X

A few rounds passed without Holly being called on, which she greatly appreciated, especially given the dares and truths those that were called on were given. Kim actually managed to eat a bite of the Mystery Leftovers, and would have went for another had the girls and Max not stopped him. The only slap or kiss round that was played ended with Max being kissed by Rose, one that Holly had actually voted for.

It was Paige's turn now. Her usually angelic smile turned devilish. "Holly," she singsonged, "truth or dare?"

"Truth." There was no way in hell that Holly would trust her sister with coming up with a dare for her. Then again, maybe she shouldn't even trust her with a truth.

"Screw marry kill. . .Adrien, Nathaniel, and Nino."

A classic Paige move, turning a truth into a screw, marry, kill, purely because she knew Holly hated the game. Ugh, she was so going to get Paige back for this! She could feel everyone's gaze on her, and she knew she was going to regret this. "I choose slap or kiss."

Paige's eyebrows shot up in surprise. She probably didn't expect her to go down that path at all. Alya smiled encouragingly as she handed Holly the bottle. "Go for it," she whispered.

Holly closed her eyes, setting the bottle in the center and giving it a spin. She didn't want to see who it landed on, she wouldn't look-

She didn't need to look. "Alright, Marinette!" came Alya's exclamation. "Holly, go ahead into the bathroom until we're done voting."

"Okay." She scurried into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her and closing her eyes tight, leaning against the door. Cierr, who had been in her purse, phased out.

"This is so fun!" the kwami exclaimed quietly, excitement clear in her big eyes. "We should go out more often."

Holly sighed, rubbing her temples. "Please, no. I think this is my limit for the century."

"Holly, we're ready!" Cierr went back into the purse with a reassuring smile as Holly opened the door and walked to her slap or kiss fate.

She sat in the center immediately, where Marinette was already waiting, cheeks tinted pink. "Go ahead, Marinette," Alya prompted. Holly expected a light slap like she had given Nino earlier. It was then that she learned to expect the unexpected.

Marinette leaned in, giving her a quick kiss on the lips. It lasted only a second, but Holly still picked up on the brown sugar taste of her lips, reminding her so much of Amelia's. Her mind ran off at that thought, leaving her sitting there. Damn, she missed Amelia, her quirks, and her kisses. It felt like so long since they had their last semi-date. Even though they hadn't come out to anyone except each other, they still had lots of good memories together.

Which got her thinking. They were about two and a half hours away from each other now. They were both trying their best to keep their relationship through texts and the occasional call, but Holly felt them drifting apart. She didn't want to face that reality yet, just like she didn't want to come out to anyone else yet, but still the thought saddened her.

"Holly? You okay?" Nathaniel asked her, a hand on her shoulder. The weight snapped her out of her thoughts, and she realized she had been sitting there for a minute. In a snap decision, she shrugged off his hand and stood up, grabbing her coat from where she had left it.

"Holly, where are you going?" Paige got to her feet, attempting to follow her. She could feel people's eyes on her, some worried, some confused. They all just seemed to drive her out the door even more.

She shook her head, heading out the door and closing it before Paige could follow her. As soon as she was out of the building, she turned into a dark alley and texted a quick apology to Alya and a text to tell Paige she was going home and not to bother her before she called on Cierr to transform her. It was close enough to midnight where she could go on patrol to get her mind off of anything.

Before she really started, though, she stopped back at her home and closed and locked her bedroom door in case Paige got home before her. Paige would probably assume she was sleeping and leave her alone, at least until she emerged from her room.

She scoured Paris, taking her usual route and covering parts of Ladybug and Chat Noir's as well, as she hadn't seen any signs of them at their usual meeting spot. Finally, after nearly an hour and a half of going over their routes, she decided to just sit down at their meeting spot and stare at the Paris skyline. It was really a pretty sight, she decided. Everything seemed so peaceful.

"You're out late." Chat Noir's voice startled her, and she jumped, ready to fight, though relaxing when she saw it was him. "Aw, Honey, don't bee a scaredy cat." He laughed at his double pun, leaning on his staff.

"Not in the mood, Chat," Honey Bee mumbled, pressing the heels of her hands to her face. "Nowhere _near_ in the mood, actually."

He sat down next to her. "What's on your mind, if I might ask?"

"Nothing that I want to be there." She stared out to the horizon once more, feeling the redness lingering where her hands had been a moment before. "I kind of had a rough night, so I came to patrol early. I finished your route and Ladybug's route, too."

Chat frowned. "Thanks, but you didn't have to do that. You should go home, get some rest for the weekend."

"I'm not going to be doing much of anything this weekend if tonight was any indicator," she sighed out. "I may just stay out here a little longer. I need the distraction."

"I'll stay with you, then. You shouldn't be out here alone at night, even if you have a miraculous." He put his hands behind his head and stretched out his legs, getting comfortable. Meanwhile, Honey Bee curled into a tighter ball. A few moments of silence passed. "You can always talk to me or Ladybug, you know."

She nodded absently. "Yeah, I know. I just don't want to talk to anyone right now, I guess." Right now, she didn't even want to talk to Amelia, as much as she had been yearning to earlier.

So they just sat there, each in their own thoughts. Honey Bee's mind was still reeling from the night. She had known she was lesbian for a couple of years, now, since she had first fallen for Amelia. Her parents and Paige didn't know yet; she and Amelia had kept their relationship on the down-low. As much as she wanted to keep this to herself for a little while longer, she knew she had to tell her family sometime or other, though she was unsure as to when she would come out. She was fairly certain they wouldn't judge her or anything like that. There was one thing she was sure of, though: she was exhausted.

"What are you two doing here?" Ladybug's voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Honey Bee covered patrol for us," Chat answered for her, standing up and giving Ladybug's hand a quick peck before she had a chance to pull away from him. "We were just looking out at the skyline."

Ladybug's eyes met Honey Bee's. "Thank you, then. You must have been out here a long time."

She averted her eyes. Ladybug's eyes looked so much like Marinette's, which made her think back to that quick kiss earlier. She felt like she was blushing, and though she knew that they couldn't read her mind, she stood up, pacing to the edge of the roof and putting down her enlarged disc. "I have to go," she mumbled before hopping on and taking off towards home. She could sort of hear the whispers of her friends behind her, but she kept going. Maybe all she needed was a nice, long rest. At this point, she wouldn't mind sleeping the whole weekend.


	7. Cautionary Tale

Cierr was the one to finally wake Holly up the next day. She did so by sitting on Holly's face until she sneezed from the small bit of fuzz on the kwami, which was not at all appreciated by Holly.

"Why did you wake me up? I want to sleep," Holly groaned, shoving her pillow over her head, trying to block out the sunlight streaming through her window.

Cierr tried to pull the pillow out of her grip. "Your parents already tried- they went to work, by the way- and Paige is worried about you. She's tried to open the door at least five times this morning. You should at least go out, get something to eat, and let her know that you aren't dead or something. And besides, I need more trail mix. My stash is empty."

Holly gave the kwami a withering glare, discarding her pillow on the floor. "I hate it when you're right." She rolled out of bed- literally rolled, landing on her hands and knees on the floor- before pushing herself up. Taking a quick glance in the mirror after putting on her glasses, she noticed that she looked like a zombie. There were dark rings under her eyes- she knew she should have slept more- her face looked pale, and her hair was an absolute mess of tangles. More or less, she looked kind of like Bellatrix from _Harry Potter._

Nevertheless, she still unlocked her door and shuffled out into the hallway, heading towards the kitchen. Cierr hung back in her room, waiting for her trail mix. If Holly could help it, she wouldn't spend more than five minutes out here before going back to her room for the rest of the weekend. Hmm, better make that the rest of the month.

"Holly, it's about time you came out." Paige appeared in front of her, arms crossed and scowling. Her choice of wording made Holly scowl as well. "What was that last night?"

"Nothing," she mumbled, taking out the trail mix bag and dropping it on the counter. Now wasn't the time, not with herself and Paige in a pissy mood. "It was nothing."

Paige rolled her eyes. "Holls, it clearly wasn't 'nothing,' otherwise you wouldn't have left. We were all worried about you, you know. None of us knew why you left."

"And you don't need to know. I shouldn't have even gone to the party in the first place." Two frozen waffles were jammed into the toaster before Holly poured herself a glass of orange juice. "I didn't _want_ to go in the first place."

Her sister narrowed her eyes. "That still doesn't explain why you left. What the hell were you thinking, going out alone? You could have been hurt, or kidnapped, or a million other horrible things!"

She snorted, doubting very highly that she would be kidnapped or something while in her superhero form. But then, Paige didn't know about that. "I can hold my own fine, Mom."

"Well, she's never around to do any of this, so someone has to!" Paige snapped, her expression filled with fury now. "Excuse me for caring about you!"

The toaster popped up, and Holly grabbed her steaming waffles. "We're done here," she said, going back to her room with the trail mix in one hand and her waffles balanced on top of her orange juice in the other.

Paige caught the door before Holly could slam it. "The hell we are! If you didn't want to play truth or dare last night, you could have just said so."

"That's not what this is about." She tried closing the door again, but Paige forced it open.

"Then tell me." Paige's voice became dangerously quiet as she searched Holly's face. "We never talk anymore, and these days I never know what you're thinking like I used to. Please, if something's wrong, just tell me. I'm your sister; I can help."

Holly paused, lightening her tone a bit. "Look, I appreciate it, Paige, but I don't want to talk right now. To anyone," she clarified, closing the door and locking it again. She heard Paige sigh on the other side of the door before her footsteps retreated into the living room and the television turned on that trashy reality show she liked.

She turned away from the door, picking up one of the waffles from her desk and biting into it as Cierr opened the trail mix and dove in. "Paige has a point, ya know," Cierr mentioned from inside the bag, stuffing a peanut into her mouth. "You two really never talk anymore."

"Maybe we're just growing apart," Holly offered half-heartedly, picking off the burned pieces of her waffle.

"That's something friends do, not sisters." Cierr paused, examining a chocolate piece. "My friend Zyann- she's the fox kwami- and I had our chosens one year who were twins. Hers was a boy, and mine was a girl, though it didn't matter to them. They were closer than any of the chosen we have had before, even closer than Ladybug and Chat Noir are now. Close enough, even, that they entrusted with each other their identities.

"One day, when they were around sixteen or seventeen, one of Zyann's chosen's friends was courting my chosen at the time. They had a really close connection with one another, one that even strangers could pick up on, but in the end, she turned him down because her father had arranged for her marriage already. She really loved him, but she wouldn't dare go against her father like her brother did on a regular basis.

"This broke the friend's heart. He moped about all the time, Zyann told me, and nothing her chosen could say or do helped. He started taking his anger out on her chosen, and in turn, her chosen took his anger out on his sister. They started arguing all the time, over even the smallest of details. The last straw was when my chosen became pregnant with her husband's baby. Neither of them spoke to each other again unless it was absolutely necessary."

Holly's eyes widened. This story became depressing very fast. "What happened to them?"

Cierr's expression darkened. "They were in the middle of a battle with their enemy after the birth of her second child. They started arguing about something- it has slipped my mind now- and their backs were to the enemy. Before anyone could shout for them to get away. . ." she trailed off tears brimming in her eyes. "That was the last time Zyann and I have had a chosen. We were returned to our miraculouses until I was let out a few weeks ago to be your kwami, and who knows when Zyann will be able to have a chosen again."

The kwami blinked a few times, clearing the tears from her eyes. "Anyways, the moral of the story is, you and Paige are not drifting apart. I won't allow a repeat of what happened last time. You two are sisters; you need each other in this world. Make up and stay together."

"I'm so sorry, Cierr," Holly whispered, staring down at her desk. "I'm going to make up with Paige, but today's just not right. I need some time to sort myself out."

"I didn't really find out about what made you run away, anyways. What happened?"

Holly thought about it. "You told me a hard story, so I guess I owe you one. Last night at the party, when I went back out for slap or kiss, I got kissed by Marinette. And I liked it."

A beat passed. "That's all?"

"What do you mean, 'That's all?' I'm a closet lesbian, and I haven't even told my family yet so I ran away from a social situation in order to make sure nobody found out until I want them to," she sighed out, falling onto her bed and closing her eyes.

"That's not too complicated, it seems. Just avoid slap or kiss until you're ready to come out."

Huh. She hadn't really considered that. It seemed simple enough to do, as well as really logical and obvious. "Yeah, you're right, I guess. Promise you won't force me to go to any parties?"

The kwami giggled. "Promise, but only if you check your phone. I'm pretty sure your classmates have been trying to reach you."

Holly groaned, reaching over and turning her phone on for the first time since last night. "Fine. But I'm holding you to your promise!"

Cierr grinned, going back to her trail mix. "This calls for celebration," she announced, popping the chocolate chip in her mouth.

A tiny smile graced Holly's face as she rolled her eyes, checking her phone. _24 new messages and 10 new emails,_ her lock screen read. "Holy crap, you weren't kidding," she exclaimed, unlocking her phone. Luckily, her emails were all new chapters of fanfiction or favorite and reviews on her own fanfiction, so she didn't have anything to respond to there. Her heart fluttered, however, when she saw the familiar favorite alert from AmeliaLaughs. No new content from her, though.

Her texts were a different story. Sixteen of them were from Paige, which she felt no need to respond to, as they mainly consisted of _Where are yous_ and _What happeneds._ Another five were from Nathaniel, who also expressed his concern for her running out and asked her to text or call him as soon as possible. One was from Alya, apologizing about whatever happened. The second-to-last one was from Adrien, asking where she went and if she was alright. Finally, the last one was from Marinette, who apologized for maybe being the reason for her running and hoping that she was safe. Now that she thought about it, she wasn't even sure how Adrien and Marinette had gotten her phone number, but then assumed that Alya or Paige gave it to them.

She responded to Marinette and Adrien's first, assuring Marinette that she wasn't the reason and telling Adrien not to worry, that she was home now and she was alright. She also apologized to Alya for running and causing such a scene as well as assuring her that she had had fun at the party while she was there.

Now she had to answer Nathaniel's texts. She would rather call him than anything, so she put on her earbuds so Paige and Cierr couldn't hear his end of their conversation and pressed the Call button.

It took him two rings to answer. "Holly, are you home? What happened last night?" At least he stuck to only two questions to begin with.

"Yes, I'm home. I don't really want to talk about what happened last night right now, but you said to call you, so here I am. Did you want to talk about anything specifically?" She absently ran her fingers through her knotted hair.

"No, I wanted to talk about the weather we've been having," he deadpanned. She could basically smell the sarcasm in his voice from over the phone. "I want to know what happened last night. What made you run?"

She exhaled through her nose. "I just said I don't want to talk about it."

He paused for a beat. "Okay then. Is there anything you _do_ want to talk about?"

"Well, I read a new book recently. It was pretty good, though it was different than the themes of books I usually read."

"What was it about?"

"HIV."

There was silence on both ends. "And this was a fiction book?" Nathaniel tentatively inquired.

"Yeah. It was good, though. No tragedies at the end, so I would count it as pretty cheerful, other than the whole HIV thing. It raises awareness about the disease and how to prevent contracting it." It was kind of awkward for her to discuss this with Nathaniel, but it was his fault for bringing up books she read recently anyways.

". . .Have you read any other books?"

"Mmhmm. There was this one with a girl who was in an accident, but she doesn't remember any of it. She just remembers that she hit her head and that her cousins and a boy, all of whom she sees every summer except for the one after the accident, haven't been answering their emails in the time since they've seen each other. Then at the end, you find out that-"

A loud blaring sound came from the television, followed quickly by Paige shouting, "Sorry!"

"Whoa, that must've been quite the plot twist," Nathaniel remarked, having still heard the end detail.

"It was! I had to put down the book for a whole half hour and read some fluffy fanfiction to get my mind off of it."

They chatted for a good half hour before Nathaniel had to go and work on his homework.

"Nathaniel?" she said before he hung up. "Thank you."

"For what?"

She smiled to herself. "For taking my mind off of everything. I really needed it."

"In that case, you're welcome. I'll talk to you later." The other end of the line went silent and Holly hung up as well, taking out her earbuds.

"That went better than I expected it to," she said, winding up the earbuds and setting them on her desk. "I'm going to catch up on this fanfiction."

Cierr flew over to her. "What fanfiction do you read, anyway? Can you read some to me?"

Holly laughed lightly. "Sure, I guess. Do you want to hear some that I've written? I can wait to read these updates." She grabbed her laptop, settling in on her bed. Scrolling through her emails, she deleted the ones for stories she didn't read and opened the links of ones she did read in new tabs before opening one for her stories.

"Ooh, yeah! I haven't read any of your writing yet!" The kwami settled down on the pillow next to her, snuggling deep into it as Holly pulled the list of her stories. "I wanna hear. . . 'Twisted Love.' Yeah, that sounds cool!"

She nodded, pulling up the story. "Alright, here we go. 'In my opinion, love is like a crazy rock band concert. . .'"


	8. Gotta Catch That Akuma

Monday was absolute hell.

First she had to deal with a screaming Chloé, angry for not being invited to an event she wouldn't have gone to anyways. How she even heard about Alya's party, Holly had no idea. The screaming gave her a horrible headache.

Then she had to carry all of the worried glances she got from her classmates, barring Nathaniel. Occasional questions were thrown her way, which she fielded with the standard I'm fines and It was nothings. These only made her headache grow.

Next she had made a plan to help herself out, to be carried out during patrol tonight. Cierr seemed to think it was a good idea, and she'd been alive for centuries, so that's saying something. However, she was stressing herself out about it, which didn't help her headache.

Her homework overload was great, too. She could barely concentrate on any of it, between her headache and her fingers itching to write.

At least she had finally gotten her homework done before patrol. And by that, she meant five minutes before patrol. Technically her bedtime (that's right; she was fifteen and still had a bedtime) was ten-thirty, so she was expected to be asleep anyway by the time patrol rolled around. She easily snuck out each night, and Paige and her parents were none the wiser. Her headache still wasn't gone, though. Damn, Chloé's shrieks had messed her up.

"You've been awfully quiet the last few days," Ladybug brought up near the end of patrol. The three superheros were taking a break at their meeting spot before going home for the night. "If something's bothering you-"

"It's nothing." Honey Bee felt like the words were the ones she had said the most in recent days. "I'm fine." She tried not to look to much at Ladybug, focusing on Chat instead. For some reason, she still found herself thinking of slap or kiss whenever she looked at Ladybug, even though there was no way Ladybug could have been there. "Let's just keep going."

Chat frowned in concern. "Honey, you don't seem like yourself. Are you feeling okay?"

She nodded, looking him straight in the eye. "I've just got a headache, that's all. Don't worry about me."

"It's hard not to worry when you've barely talked to us," Ladybug countered.

Deep breaths, Holly. This was as good a time as any to practice, wasn't it? In the dead of night, with two people she trusted her life with but whom she probably didn't know under the masks. The thought almost made her laugh if she hadn't thought about what she was going to say.

"Then I'll talk to you now, okay? Just give me a second." She needed to take the advice of that article she had read online and let go of her expectations of their reactions. "You guys are good at keeping secrets, right?"

They exchanged a quick glance. "Yes, of course. Where are you going with this?" Ladybug answered for the both of them.

C'mon, keep breathing. "So. . . Sorry, this is kinda tough for me. Only one other person knows about this, not including my kwami, so I really need you guys to not say anything at anytime unless we are absolutely one hundred percent alone, okay?"

They nodded. "Here goes," she muttered under her breath. "I've thought a lot about this, and I think you two will be the best people to tell for the time being. This might make it easier for me in the future. I want to stop being stressed about this." Realizing she was dragging this out, she took yet another deep breath. "I'm lesbian. And um, I guess you can ask me whatever you want at this point."

Ladybug was the first to react, her face softening. "I'm glad you trust us enough to tell us, Honey. And I'm also glad that this wasn't about something like only having a month to live. That would have been horrible."

"I have a question," Chat spoke up, a sly grin slowly forming. "Is this why you weren't charmed by my amazing cat-titude?"

The ghost of a smile appeared on her face. "Part of the reason, yeah. I don't think I would think of you as anything other than a really good friend, though." Chat grinned at her. "Seriously, I didn't think anyone I knew would react so well to this."

"You'd be surprised," Ladybug commented. "I have a friend who came out to our class as bisexual a year or so ago, and everyone handled it really well. There wasn't any teasing or anything in our friend group. We all stuck by her, just like Chat and I will stick by you."

A grateful, relieved smile grew on Honey Bee's face. "Thanks so much. I was debating not telling anyone yet, but something happened Friday night and I almost exposed myself when I didn't want to. That's why I was upset all weekend."

"That makes sense. Are you dating anyone, then?" Chat inquired, his green eyes curious.

"Actually, yeah. She's the other person that knows." She paused, not wanting to give too much of her civilian life away. "I'm really glad you two are taking this so well, I don't really know what I was expecting."

Ladybug grinned and winked. "Well, you should learn by now to expect the unexpected, especially if you hold a miraculous."

The three friends laughed at the truth in this statement. Honey Bee was glad she had gotten her truth out alright, and was ready to move on. "Come on, let's finish patrol. Last one to the Lourve is a rotten egg!" This was totally pulling a Chat Noir, but she hopped on her disc and sped off, her friends hot on her trail.

X-X-X

Holly was in a better mood the next day, but Paige was still steaming mad. She barely talked at all, ignoring Holly's apologies and staying out with friends all day to avoid her. The one day her parents weren't at work for the entire day as usual and Paige wasn't there or in a good enough mood to enjoy it.

Then again, her parents weren't in the best mood, either, since although they were home, they still had what Holly described to Cierr as "shitloads of paperwork to finish." So in other words, she had an excuse to hole up in her room for the entire day and write. One problem, though:

"Argh!" She slammed her laptop shut after a half hour, a blank document being all that she had been able to write. Not music, reading other works, drawing, or looking at other drawings helped. "Writer's block _sucks._"

Cierr looked up from the book she was reading. "No inspiration?" she asked before popping a pretzel bite into her mouth from her trail mix stash.

"Not a drop." Pacing around her room a bit, she ended by flopping face-down on her bed. "This sucks," came her muffled statement. Her glasses pressed uncomfortably into her face.

"Why don't you go somewhere? It's nice out today, and fresh air is good for you, anyways," the kwami suggested, turning a page.

Holly thought about this for a moment. "That's actually not a bad idea. There's a park near school; I can go there and stop by that bakery on the way." She pushed herself up, straightening her hair so it just barely touched her shoulders. "Yeah. This is good. Go out, get stuff done, enjoy the day." She grabbed her journal off of her desk and stuffed it and her pencil into her bag. "You coming, Cierr? I can get you a treat at the bakery."

Cierr grinned and flew into the opening of Holly's bag. "I'm coming, but you don't have to get me anything. Ladybug's kwami Tikki is the one who loves sweets; I want the saltiness, too."

Neither of Holly's parents responded with more than a wave when she announced that she was going out. Even that was more than she usually got, but it wasn't their fault. Still, she heard Cierr's little huff of disapproval as they left.

The bakery was right next to the park, which was perfect for her. She pushed the door open, breathing in the sweet scents. It wasn't as busy as she would expect at this time of day, but there was still a fairly long line to the woman at the counter. She took her time scoping out the different treats, recalling the croissants that she and Paige had had on their first day of school. Had it really been that long ago?

"If you're looking for a recommendation, the caramel chocolates are amazing." The voice brought Holly out of her thoughts, and she turned, smiling when she saw Nathaniel, sketchbook in hand.

"Hey, Nathaniel," she greeted, her gaze following his to the chocolates. They did seem pretty appetizing, and she was craving chocolate just thinking about them. "What's up?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Nothing much, just have a little artist's block and was on my way to the park when I saw you, so I just wanted to say hi. How about you?"

"Writer's block. I was actually on my way to the park, too, I just wanted something sweet to snack on." The line started dwindling, so she stepped into it, Nathaniel following behind her. "Maybe we could help each other out?"

A nod and a smile. "That'd be nice." He nudged her forward as the person in front of her left with their purchase.

The petite woman smiled at them. "Hello, Nathaniel. And you're Holly, right? Marinette's told us about you. How are you two doing?"

"Fine, thanks, Mrs. Cheng," Nathaniel answered for both of them. She was confused for a moment before she remembered that this woman had said at the beginning of the school year that her daughter was in Holly's class. Until now, she didn't put two and two together. "And you?"

"Very well, thank you. What can I get for you two today?" She could definitely see the resemblance now between Marinette and Mrs. Cheng.

"I'll have a dozen of the caramel chocolates, please," she ordered with a small smile. She could just taste them now.

Mrs. Cheng nodded. "And for you?" she asked Nathaniel.

"A half-dozen strawberry macarons, please," came his response. He glanced at Holly while Mrs. Cheng gathered their orders. "I'm paying."

She shook her head vehemently. "No, that's alright, I can pay for myself." Really, it would be kind of awkward for her, because didn't people usually pay for each other when they were dating? And they were most certainly not dating.

He lifted his sketchbook a bit. "Seriously, if you're going to be such a good friend help me get over my artist's block, then the least I can do is pay for your sugar fix."

_Take a deep breath, Holly. He stressed 'friends' there._ "Alright, if you think that's fair."

"That'll be eight euros," Mrs. Cheng said with a wink upon returning. "Half off for Marinette's friends."

"Thank you," she and Nathaniel chorused as he handed over the correct amount and collected their treats.

"Of course. Have a nice day," she smiled before turning to the next person in line.

The two friends left with a wave, strolling down the sidewalk to the park next door. "How do you think we could help each other out, anyway?" Nathaniel wondered aloud, handing her the box with her chocolates.

"It's something my friend Amelia and I used to do. She's an artist _and_ writer, and drew the cover art for a lot of my fanfictions as well as her own. Whenever one of us was stuck, we would swap journals. We would each pick a story or drawing, and then draw or write about it. So, I would choose one of your drawings and write a story around it, and vice versa. It really helps get the creative juices flowing. What do you think?"

"Sounds good to me. You don't mind me reading your unfinished works, though? I don't want a repeat of last time." He had to have been referring to when she nearly screamed at him for reading over her shoulder at lunch one day as she was writing.

She laughed lightly, remembering how scared he had looked under her glare. "No, most of what's in the journal I brought was just ideas and prompts, anyways. I may or may not end up using them to write stories later, but I don't write full works in this one."

Luckily for them, a bench was left unoccupied on the edge of the park, just waiting for them to sit on. The day was chilly, but not enough so that it was snowing, though it was in the forecast for sometime soon. Holly opened her chocolates, taking one out and putting it in her mouth as she took her journal out of her bag. "Oh. My. Gosh." The chocolate exterior melted away on her tongue, leaving the soft interior for her to suck on. "This is heaven."

"You should try the macarons," he said, offering her one of the pink treats with an amused glance. "They're even better."

She took it, handing him a chocolate in return. He was right, the fluffy pastries were marginally better than the chocolates, but she still had that craving to crush. "Alright. Here's my journal. Flip through until you find something you like, I guess."

"Same here." They swapped journals, skimming across the filled pages.

Nathaniel's art was good, but there wasn't too much that Holly thought she could write a story around. Another page flipped, but this time the art definitely caught her attention. "Is that. . ."

"Honey Bee. Yeah." He blushed a bit, gazing down at his drawing. Instead of Ladybug and Chat Noir together or other pictures like he had previously drawn, this one only had Honey Bee. So really, if she thought about it, it was a picture of her. "She may be new, but I think she's pretty cool."

Holly stifled a grin. "She certainly seems like it." It may be bad form to compliment herself, but who would know other than her? And Cierr, if she was listening. "She looks like she could just jump off of the page."

The drawing was done with shaded pencil rather than in color, but Holly could tell the difference in color even if she didn't see herself in the outfit every night. And did her hair really look that flowy when she was running? It was really something to see herself through someone else's eyes.

Which gave her a great idea. She flipped the sketchbook closed and handed it back to Nathaniel. "I know exactly what I'm going to write about, thank you."

"And I know what I'll draw. Those are some winning ideas you have in there, by the way," he said, tapping the cover of her journal once more before handing it over. "If you ever write using them, let me know. I've been meaning to check your fanfiction page anyway."

A slight blush rose in her cheeks. "You really don't have to do that." It's not like her fanfiction garnered a lot of followers, but he probably didn't know a lot of what she wrote anyways. Still, the thought of a friend liking her writing pleased her.

"That's what friends do, right?" With his signature small smile, he leaned over his sketchbook and produced a pencil from the side, starting to sketch. Holly rifled around in her bag for her pencil (eventually handed to her by Cierr) and jotted down her idea. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to write much else, as screaming echoed through the park.

Both pairs of eyes snapped towards each other. "Akuma," the realized in unison. Holly stuffed the rest of her chocolates in her bag with her journal, grabbing it by the strap and standing.

"Hold on," Nathaniel said. "Where are you going?"

"Um. . ." She raked her mind for a convincing lie. "My apartment isn't too far from here, I've got to make sure my parents are okay."

After a pause, he nodded. "I should do the same. Stay safe," he called over his shoulder, racing off in the opposite direction. She let out the breath she didn't know she was holding and ran to find a spot to transform.

An alley caught her eye quickly and she ducked into it, checking back to make sure nobody was following her. Cierr phased through her bag, cheeks stuffed with trail mix, which she swallowed in one gulp. "Ready whenever you are," she declared, a (very adorable) game face on.

"Cierr, buzz on!" The amber light surrounded her vision as she had gotten used to, and she sped off on her disc, searching for the new akuma.

It didn't take her long; she just followed the sound of the screams to the Eiffel Tower. _It was always the Eiffel Tower, wasn't it?_ Ladybug and Chat Noir looked like they had just arrived, but were already locked in with the akuma in question. "What are we looking at here?" she called to them, jumping off of her disc and throwing it at the akuma, perched on a bar of the tower. This one looked. . . strange, yet familiar. He seemed only a couple years older than her and was wearing a mashup of familiar-looking clothes. Something tickled the back of her mind, letting her know that she should definitely know the answer to this. It was just the clothing that she recalled; nothing else about the akuma rang a bell.

"Hell hath no fury like a cosplayer scorned," Chat Noir quipped, pausing to take another look at the akuma before dodging one of the red and white spheres being chucked at them before setting off a small explosion of compressed air. "Apparently some guys online mixed up his costume pieces so that it wasn't 'accurate.' And now he's on a rampage. If you ask me, Hawkmoth's really losing creativity with these akumas."

"True as that may be, that doesn't make them any less dangerous," Ladybug warned, spinning her yoyo to deflect the spheres. "Do either of you recognize what he's even wearing?"

Honey Bee blinked, studying the various costume pieces. Now that Chat Noir said that the costume wasn't accurate, she recognized it. "I do now. It looks like he was trying to dress as Ash from the show Pokémon, but they got the different outfits mixed up. He's wearing the jacket from Hoenn, the pants from Sinnoh, the gloves from Kalos, the shoes from Unova, and the hat from Kanto. There's no way to tell which gen he was trying to dress up as, but the akuma is probably in the hat, as that's the most iconic part of Ash's clothing, especially because it's the original design."

The akuma growled. She noticed that he wouldn't really have looked much like Ash anyways, given that he had what looked like green eyes and brown hair. "At least someone understands what I was going for. Those idiots online didn't get a _single thing_ right!" He took a deep breath, grabbing another sphere- poké balls, she realized- and readying it in his palm. "For now, though, I'll get back at all the haters who say that Pokémon is for little kids. They don't have a clue how great it is!" He tossed the ball into the air and caught it again before smirking and tossing it at a small crowd that had gathered at his feet. "The Master's gonna catch 'em all!"

Not all of the people could run in time to avoid the ball, leaving it to explode at their feet. This one, rather than being an explosion of air like she had seen before, froze the people completely in ice. _So the balls must emit one element of a certain type_, she realized before her eyes widened. One of the people frozen had her eyes trained completely on the battle, on Honey Bee.

That person, frozen in the ice, was Paige.


	9. Hug and Make Up

Honey Bee's vision whipped back to the Master now, seeing pure red. There was no way in _hell_ she was going to let him get away with freezing her sister, no matter how good of a taste he had in television shows. She knew exactly what to say to piss off the akuma, too.

"Hey Master! Been to Kanto lately? I'm pretty sure that the 'Ash is a loser' sign is still there!" With each word, she advanced a step, expanding her disc to act like a shield should he throw anything at her.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "I don't know what you're trying to do, but I don't like it." He readied another ball, aiming right for her, but Ladybug knocked it out of his hand with her yoyo.

"Well, I do! Keep going, Honey!" Ladybug encouraged, signalling to Chat Noir to back her up. The plan formed almost telepathically between them. There was no way she was stopping now.

"How could Ash not even recognize Team Rocket after seeing them both in and out of disguise almost every day?" she shouted, capturing his attention once more. "And don't even get me started on his obliviousness to just about everything going on around him!"

The Master crossed his arms, eyes raging. "How dare you talk like that about the best character the show has ever seen! I mean, you're not wrong, but still!"

She rolled her eyes, feigning boredom. "Please. He didn't even properly earn the first two Indigo League badges, and in order to even get into the Celadon Gym, he had to fool them using Team Rocket's help, no less, by dressing up as a girl. And really, the fact that his charizard didn't listen to him for the longest time is really degrading as a trainer."

The akuma looked downright furious now, but she kept going at Ladybug's signal. She and Chat Noir were almost behind him and continued to move inconspicuously. "If you think about it, he wasn't even that good at battling. He's never won a League yet, and at this rate he probably isn't going to. And do you remember when he challenged Elesa at the Nimbasa Gym? Who brings only one pokémon to a gym battle?"

"All fair points, but have you considered the fact that Ash saw way more legendary pokémon than anyone else in the series as of now?" At this point, it was less of a fight and more of a debate.

Honey Bee lifted an eyebrow and shook her head. "Not true. Team Rocket has seen almost as many, only a couple less than Ash has. And have you considered that even after they mention the passage of time in the anime that he's still ten? It's not possible by any means." She paused a moment to let that sink in before delivering the proverbial nail in the coffin. Ladybug and Chat Noir had almost completely gone behind the Master, ready to grab his hat at a moment's notice. "And anyways, as Iris says, he always acts like such a little kid. There's no way he can win any of the Leagues if he doesn't step up his game at least a little. Honestly, Kalos was the best thing to happen to him, even if he was too dense to pick up the hints Serena was dropping the entire time."

The fury in the Master's eyes grew and his scowl grew into a snarl. He reached up and turned the hat on his head backwards, just like Ash did in the anime whenever things were about to get real. Little did he know, he was actually making their job easier. She crossed her arms tightly over her chest and smirked, nodding at her allies. They immediately lifted the hat right off of his head and Chat Noir used his Cataclysm on it, disintegrating the hat and releasing the akuma, which Ladybug then caught and purified.

Ladybug handed Honey Bee the hat to give back to the released victim, now on his hands and knees but still in the mixed-up costume. Hawkmoth must've not been feeling too creative today, but at least this name was better than some of the others he came up with.

"Here's your hat," Honey Bee said in a soft voice, holding it out to the boy. He stood, towering a good five inches taller than her, and took the hat back, placing it securely on his head. "You know, that's a really great costume. Even if it's not perfectly accurate to one generation, it has an element from each of Ash's outfits. That's pretty unique."

At her praise, his eyes brightened a little. "You think so?" He looked her over a bit, and she could practically see the thoughts racing in her mind. "You could make a good May or Jasmine."

"Thanks," she smiled, noticing Ladybug beckoning to her out of the corner of 'her eye. "I have to go now, but I hope you have fun wherever you were going with that costume." She left with one final wave, sprinting to Ladybug.

"You handled that one really well," the superhero said upon her arrival. The two took off into the sky, as Chat Noir had already left, having only a couple minutes left before he detransformed. "I didn't even need to use my Lucky Charm."

Honey Bee stole a quick glance down to where Paige had been. She could kind of make her out in the crowd, wrapped in a blanket to counteract the ice she had been encased in. If any akumas came after Paige ever again-

"Honey Bee. You still there?" She barely registered Ladybug waving a hand in front of her face.

A quick shake of her head cleared her rather violent thoughts. "Yeah, sorry. What did you say?"

"I asked if you knew any of those people who were frozen. You really started to take charge once that ball exploded."

"Er. . ." she thought quickly, trying to figure out how to explain this situation. "Yeah. She's a friend, and I didn't want to see her get caught in the crossfire."

Ladybug nodded knowingly. "I know the feeling well. How did you know so much about that show anyway? That was kind of impressive."

Honey Bee laughed, slightly embarrassed. "I've been a fan of _Pokémon_ since I was little. It's just one of those things. . ." A sudden thought struck her mind and she stopped in place. "I have to go. See you at patrol!" Leaving a baffled Ladybug behind, she zipped through the sky, striving to get home before Paige. If Paige got home before her and she wasn't there like she said she would be. . . Well, there were three ways this could go.

The most unlikely way was their parents telling her that Holly had went out, which they might not even remember her saying, and Paige believing them, in which case she would have to come in the front door and make up a story about the akuma.

The second path was their parents not seeing Paige come in and Paige going into her room and starting to freak out, in which case she would have to come in the front door and make up a story about the akuma.

And the last path was basically like the second one, except Paige asked her specific questions because she didn't remember seeing Holly anywhere near the akuma. If things went wrong with that path, her secret identity could be in jeopardy. So really, her rushed departure was totally justified.

She didn't see Paige below her anywhere when she was a block away from home. Perhaps she had gone back out with those new friends of hers? It was a likely explanation.

"Almost home," she assured herself, spotting her apartment window in the distance.

She put on an extra burst of speed, jumping through her open window and rolling onto her bed. "Buzz off, Cierr," she spoke, laying flat on her bed. Her transformation released around her, Cierr coming out of the miraculous and dropping onto Holly's chest.

"That was incredible!" she exclaimed, sitting up and glancing over to the bag of trail mix on Holly's desk. "Seriously, I don't think an akuma has even been defeated by a debate."

Holly laughed softly. "Please. I was just lucky that he was akumatized based on something I'm obsessed with. Otherwise, it probably would've taken a lot longer."

Footsteps echoed in the hallway, coming towards her closed door. "Cierr, you might want to hide," she whispered, but the kwami has already phased into one of her desk drawers. With a grunt, she pushed herself up to unlock her door, opening it to find Paige about to knock. "Can I help you?"

"Can I come in first?" Holly stepped to the side, motioning for Paige to enter with her head before closing the door again. They both took seats on the bed, facing each other cross-legged. "We need to talk."

"Yeah. We do." If there was anyone she was comfortable telling now, it was Paige. "Listen, I-"

Paige cut her off with a wave of her hand. "I know about you and Amelia."

It was safe to say that Holly almost fell off of the bed. "Paige, what the hell?" Inside her mind, she was panicking. Yes, she had just wanted to tell Paige about this, but she just came in here and sprung this on her?

"Relax." Paige rolled her eyes at Holly's dramatics. "I've known since you guys started dating. As good as you may be at keeping secrets from our parents and everyone else, I'm your sister. I can see right through you. It also helped when you blushed whenever you and Amelia looked at each other." A pause. "Also, she called the home phone and thought I was you when I picked up and kinda talked about your relationship before I could get a word in."

Holly buried her face in her hands. That was just like Amelia. "Am I really that readable?" she groaned, falling onto her back and letting her head hand off of the edge of her bed.

With a laugh, Paige tugged her up again. "Sometimes, yeah. But don't worry, I'm cool with it. You are who you are." She was silent for a moment. "This is why you left the party, right? Because you were kissed by Marinette?"

". . .Yeah. I don't want anyone knowing yet, and I felt that if I stayed, I'd out myself before I was ready. I'm also sorry I worried you so much. And yelled at you." Wow, thinking of all that she did just to keep one secret astounded her. What would she have to do in order to keep her other identity a secret?

"It's alright. I understand now." Paige held out her arms. "Hug it out?"

Holly responded with a laugh of her own, falling into Paige's arms. "Thank you, Paige."

"We're sisters; it's what we do." Paige held her away for a second. "Now, did you see the footage from that akuma attack? Honey Bee was crazy good at keeping him distracted. Apparently she's a Pokémon fan, too. It's like you two are the same person."

"Yeah," Holly laughed nervously, casting a sideways glance to where Cierr was hiding. "Wouldn't that be crazy."


End file.
